North Castle Partners, its co-investors and Glencoe Capital have sold Flatout T Marzetti Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lancaster Colony Corporation for a purchase price of USD92 million on a cash‑free, debt‑free basis.
For North Castle Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on consumer businesses that promote Healthy, Active and Sustainable Living, the transaction represents another successful exit in the nutrition sector.
"The growth of Flatout and its sale to T Marzetti Company is another example of North Castle's strategy to partner with accomplished entrepreneurial management teams to build high-growth brands that are of significant value to strategic buyers," says Lou Marinaccio, a North Castle Managing Director. "By leveraging our prior experience with nutrition and food & beverage companies, such as Naked Juice, EAS, and Atkins Nutritionals, we believe that North Castle in partnership with Flatout's leadership team developed a company, brand, and product portfolio that are well positioned for growth for many years to come."
"Providing consumers with healthy/better-for-you nutrition options is vital to North Castle's mission to build industry leading companies in the Healthy, Active and Sustainable Living market. We believe the success of Flatout illustrates the benefits that our focused approach provides management teams as we partner to build great companies that address the needs of today's consumers – in this case, for tasty, nutritious and convenient foods. We are proud to have played an integral role in the development of Flatout, which is representative of the broader value creation that we are driving across our entire portfolio," says North Castle's Managing Partner Chip Baird.
"North Castle's experience in the food & beverage and nutrition markets, coupled with its brand building and operating capabilities were instrumental in helping us grow Flatout," says Stacey Marsh, Co-Founder and President. "I am excited for Flatout to be part of the T Marzetti family as we continue to drive the growth of the brand and continue our history of innovation in the category."
"As a leading private equity firm that has focused on consumer businesses that promote health and wellness for more than 15 years, we continue to look for opportunities across the Healthy, Active and Sustainable Living market to leverage our knowledge, network and experience in building market leaders like Flatout," says Marinaccio.
Lincoln International served as financial advisor and Morrison Cohen and Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss provided legal counsel to North Castle and the company in the transaction.
